


Sunrise.

by RaccoonEyedNerd



Series: The Wanderer Triology [2]
Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Mythology References, Romanian mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 20:55:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16025819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaccoonEyedNerd/pseuds/RaccoonEyedNerd
Summary: The second installment, a sequel to Moonlight.





	Sunrise.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first present (Out of four presents I have prepared) to all of you in celebration for TT 400m, yeah, leave it to me to post whatever thing but the things I promised uwu I'm annoyingly unpredictable in that field.
> 
> As always, I'm immensely grateful for you to take the time to read this and leave a comment, your words keep the writer me alive and encouraged to do more and better; I hope you enjoy and have a beautiful day/night/evening/morning.
> 
> Dedicated to baerikas, thanks for bearing with me and my ideas.
> 
> Twt: @RaccoonEyedNerd

Her lips hurt as the cold wind from the east hits her face, but she still braces herself and lets her eyes search for the one thing she’s been expecting for what it seemed an eternity; she’s barefooted, but the pain crawling up her legs tells her she’s not as strong as the creatures wandering in the deep of the night, not as strong as the one she waits to see.

 

A lot of nights have passed since the last time the goddess from the forest blessed her quarters with her presence, a lot of moons without feeling cold; dangerous fingers on her skin, claiming her as her property, no, as her crown, a symbol of her true power. Momo feels her though, and she’s very sure it isn’t just the ghost of her touch after so many nights filled with desire and craving greater than she ever felt for any of the royals visiting her castle during meetings and unnecessarily extended ceremonies with the king.

 

It’s like the forest goddess, the demon, watches her from the green depths of the tree ocean extending itself from the edges of the castle grounds.

 

She’s watching, even in those nights when she has to take care of yet again another old man wishing for her presence. Their touch has become unbearable since the princess tasted the temptation coming from the devil’s lips.

 

Momo can almost see her, on the corner of her eyes when she goes out and threatens to wait out the night in the cold, barefooted just to see her pale face and her enigmatic eyes staring at her like a mystery.

 

The maids and peasants under her rule soon start whispering about madness when her guards find her outside in the snow one night, and they blame the King’s unspeakable ways after the Princess’ kindness made its way into the ears of nearby kingdoms and everyday more and more princes and other nobles beg for a sole look, a sole touch coming from her.

 

The princess doesn’t want them though, she only aspires for her body and soul to be taken by the one creature that came into her quarters one night and left with her heart and the promise of a kiss hanging from her lips, and her closest maids take tragic notice of how much their sweet, perfect girl is morphing into someone they can’t even recognize.

 

“It’s too late for you to be out, M’lady, you don’t want your majesty to find out about this.” Jihyo desperately calls for her, softly pulling her by the arm in order to bring her back to the warmth of her home, in the luxurious halls of the castle. “Imagine your poor father if he lost you too.”

 

The tightening feeling on her throat doesn’t disappear as the stars do when the sun raises and shines upon all the lands she once thought she owned before her eyes were opened and the naïve mind of the one who has it all now had nothing.

 

Her bedsheets feel empty, devoid of the warmth the stranger from the forest would gift her.

 

She wasn’t really able to think about anything else but her.

 

And she’s about to get desperate.

 

But then the winter winds bring to her more than the tree’s smell to her when she supports her elbows on the window frame; Momo can feel her burning stare all the way from the forest edge, like that common feeling of being watched, but this It’s way more intense than the first time she felt it. It’s almost impossible, or so the back of her head sing-songs for her when she sees the silver lining of the mountains now being green and white under the winter sun. Mina never approaches the castle in the middle of the day, but still, Momo can feel her close.

 

It’s an easy choice when she debates whether to stay on her quarters to eat what Jihyo left before she woke up or to sneak out to wander into the forest, in the search of her.

 

A sweet, innocent thing, corrupted by the most ancient of curses, the elderly would say; the Zburaturul deflowers and claims the young souls before eating their existence slowly, driving dozens of girls to madness, a frenzy for a touch that only the Zburaturul can fulfill. An unavoidable magnetism, like the air to the lungs and the dreams to the dreamer, Momo needed Mina more than anything else.

 

Poor sweet, innocent thing.

 

As blurry as the morning mist, the princess barely registers how she actually gets out from the castle and gets herself deeper and deeper into the army of trees surrounding her like old friends, inviting her in so she can get lost with a purpose.

 

In the beginning, it could be heard like an echo of her own footsteps over the snow, faint and distant, but the sounds get lighter than her own; only then the young princess realizes she’s being followed closely. Maybe it’s the necessity, or she really got better at being conscious about her surroundings, because she knows for a fact those steps could only belong to a hunter, stalking a prey.

 

Her hunter.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you, so many nights…” She whispers into the cold, well aware that Mina could hear her anyway.

 

“I know.” Comes the reply, carried softly by a breeze that softly hits her face now that she’s walking between all those trees; Momo’s breath gets caught on her throat when she hears her voice, as tempting as melting honey. “The wind has brought your perfume for me, your majesty, and the stars have witnessed me looking after you.”

 

“Then why haven’t you come into the castle, into my quarters?” The princess inquires, looking around to see at least the tips of her fingers, the footprints of her steps; she can hear Mina, but cannot see her, and the sole situation it’s making her desperate. “Did your people whisper about another princess? Am I not pleasant enough?”

 

A chuckle comes her way, and Momo quickly turns around, to find nothing again.

 

“Have you heard about another one that matches your beauty and heavenly taste, your majesty?”

 

A sudden flash of sanity fills the thoughts of the young princess at the sound of the praise, way too common for her taste, she had heard those words several times before, slipping out someone else’s lips. At the moment, and for brief instants that seem infinite for the predator that watches in silence, the princess wonders what makes Mina different from all the nobles visiting her.

 

But then all thoughts are stopped by a single, cold touch.

 

Momo wants to stay still for a moment, to not react that easily to the touches of the barefooted stranger, but her body betrays her, and her head leans towards her touch when Mina slowly appears on her sight, walking slowly around her.

 

“You shouldn’t call me like that, stranger.” Momo breathes against her, letting the smell of danger fill her lungs. “I’m not your king, I’m your lady.”

 

Her breath hitches when Mina’s fingers hold her jaw, and she doesn’t have an option but to look into those eyes, one as dark as the shadows of the night and the other as pale as the sky in the middle of a winter day; now that she thinks about it, Mina is like the perfect mixture of the night and the moonlight.

 

“Then you shouldn’t call me stranger, neither Mina, because I’m only that when I’m inside your quarters.”

 

“Goddess of the forest, ruler of the night or a mere peasant wandering in my forests, who am I facing now?” Momo whispers, lips parting eagerly as soon as Mina’s thumb gently caresses the crimson tinted skin.

 

“Sweet princess, how naïve of you to keep thinking these lands are your own, didn’t I tell you my kingdom ends where those stone walls begin?”

 

Mina chuckles, and the princess is pretty sure she would happily die on her arms at that same instant. Momo’s hands soon find the sad, almost torn to pieces garments the girl is wearing, and she pulls her against her body, eager to feel her everywhere as she leans back against a tree; memories of previous nights with the mysterious creature filling her thoughts as her blood starts rushing to her face when Mina grins and her abnormally large fangs glow with the white reflection of the snow.

 

“I missed you, goddess.” The princess confesses.

 

“I missed you too, your majesty” Mina replies, her face getting close to Momo’s cheek and placing a single, soft kiss on her skin.

 

“I told you, I’m not-”

 

"You called for solace in the dark, for your voice to be heard and your true position in the kingdom to be taken in account and we, the night, answered." Velvety voice says, her breath caressing the now heated skin. "Why run away from it now? Why run from a title that belongs to you?"

 

"Maybe it will be mine, in the future I’ll have a kingdom to take care of-"

 

"All the kingdoms at my feet, I can give them to you" The goddess states, taking her hand from Momo’s face to interlace their fingers instead. "Just say the word"

 

For the first time in the time she has shared with the mysterious being, Momo sees something else besides the distant questions on her eyes; it’s like Mina is taking more than a little mercy on her, it makes the princess heart beat faster while being on her arms. She knows the forest goddess knows more than she lets on, and she doesn’t even doubt she knows about the ventures she goes through each time the king asks her to look presentable for an upcoming visitor.

 

Momo did ask the moon for a way out, she did beg for freedom every time she sat by the window, waiting for either death or a miracle.

 

Instead, the moon gave her Mina.

 

“Why?” She dares to ask when Mina places her forehead against the side of her face, hands already wandering, making her lose focus.

 

“Because you’re the only queen I’m willing to serve.”

 

The princess isn’t sure what’s more intoxicating, Mina’s touch or the fact that she, a human princess, tamed such an ethereal being just by inviting her into her soul and heart; the sense of power it’s invigorating, and Momo doesn’t doubt her own power upon her kingdom when Mina is slipping her fingers under her gowns. The princess turns her head to kiss over the scar on Mina’s brow and the latter purrs in satisfaction because of the simple gesture of affection.

 

Momo knows it’s not proper, to wander into the forests and let herself be touched by an outcast lover in such an unlikely place, but the princess wouldn’t care less when she’s so delighted. Mina kisses her with a purpose, and the back of the princess head bumps into the tree trunk thanks to the strength of her lover.

 

It’s like the snow isn’t cold anymore when Mina lifts her dress slowly, hands desperate for something to cling onto.

 

“Don’t get lost in the forest again, your majesty, wait for me in the castle.” Mina tells her in between kisses, but Momo can only nod in response, mouth already open in anticipation for the sounds that about to leave her lips thanks to the ambrosia she craved for like it was air on her lungs. “I, like you, have a kingdom to care for, and we’re getting ready to take what’s ours to take.”

 

Momo isn’t sure if she’s talking about the two of them, or the creatures of the night that follow her command.

 

“It’s hard to breathe when you’re not close, there’s no other one I want near me besides you, goddess.” The princess cries when the night-eyed woman touches her. “I’d let kingdoms fall just for the world to let me be with you until the sun doesn’t rise anymore.”

 

“No, your majesty” Mina enters her while she speaks, and she looks at the princess face while she does so, cursed blood running wild through her veins at the feeling of warm velvet welcoming her like a master. “No need for you to bring chaos when we already carry it on our shadows. Just wait for me one more night, my queen.”

 

Momo moans when she hears the title.

 

But she obeys, and when the night falls upon the kingdom, she lays on her bed without a single trace of the previous intention to escape the palace to find her lover. Jihyo sits by her side for a couple minutes, gently brushing her hair as she tells the princess about everything that went down in the castle during the day; Momo trusts Jihyo enough to enter her room whenever she feels it necessary, but still, she keeps quiet about Mina, like it would make her less hers if she told anyone else about her existence.

 

She goes through another night, this time with the taste of sin and glory still vivid on her tongue.

 

“The houses of the west are really interested in forming an alliance with us” The king says, delighted by her side as they eat “Several princes are waiting for a confirmation to formally ask for your hand in marriage, but I have yet to decide what’s the best choice since the ones we don’t chose will probably declare themselves enemies.”

 

He chuckles, and Momo just eats in silence, already used to not have a say on her own destiny.

 

“The sole thing you have to learn, my dear Momo, it’s that the real power rests on the untouchable beauty that everyone wants to possess, be it gold or the most beautiful princess in the eastern lands.” Momo looks at him in questioning, and he laughs again. “That’s why I don’t let them take you, that’s why they only touch you like that and don’t take your innocence; I give them a taste of what they cannot have.”

 

“By offering your daughter as a piece of meat?” Momo dares to ask, raising her chin.

 

“By teaching you the true power of your body.” He proudly states, and the princess feels nauseous.

 

She keeps to herself the fact that she has already been taken, claimed, but she still wants to retaliate, prove to her father that she’s more than her body; Momo has a brain, and she has proven herself several times by offering advice to the generals in times of war, and the elders on economic and political issues.

 

Momo is more of a King than her own father, and the fact that she can’t properly make herself heard bites her on the inside, harder than the demons inside of her while she missed her lover.

 

“Yes, my King.” She says instead.

 

They are about to talk about the pros and cons of each house when the ivory colored door to the dining hall suddenly gets open, and two members of the royal guard barge in, running towards the king with their swords ready in order to protect him. Momo gets up from her chair, both scared and intrigued by the commotion.

 

“What it’s going on!?” The King barks, and the princess flinches because she isn’t used to such a severe and threatening tone coming from her father.

 

“M’lady, please step back.” One of the guards, Han, warns Momo; his face is pale, like he has just seen the hell itself.

 

But then, and just like it was instinct, Momo turns her head to find the most breathtaking sight she had ever witnessed.

 

“I beg your forgiveness, your majesty” The sweet and dangerous voice echoes in the hall, and Momo feels chills going up her body when her eyes meet the ones that take her breath away. “I didn’t know you were occupied.”

 

She looks so different, and Momo feels like crying because she’s unreal, Mina is unreal; forgotten were the sad excuses for garments and now she wore a dark grey leather doublet under a cloak as dark as the night that hung over one of her shoulders; Her bare feet were replaced for black boots up to her knees, making every graceful step even more intimidating as she made her way to the dining table, completely ignoring the warnings of the guards.

 

And her eye like the moon shines as brightly as the swords that’s currently hanging from her belt, not really eager to stay on its place for long.

 

“How dare you barge into my castle, who are you?” The King questions, rage pumping on his blood as the veins on his forehead seem like they’re about to pop out from the skin.

 

“Oh, please, forgive my lack of protocol.” Mina smirks, and Momo’s knees tremble because she has seen that same smirk when she’s about to kiss her; the goddess mockingly bows, and the princess can hear her father fuming. “I’m the Queen of the Blue Forest Wanderers and this…” She points her hand towards the girl that’s making her way over her “This is my general, Hyejoo.”

 

Momo almost didn’t notice her because of her light steps, but somehow, the more she looks at her, the most she understands why such a young girl could carry such a title; the girl gets more dangerously-looking at every passing second, and the smile she shows it’s frightening. Her stance, everything about her screams warrior; the shiver comes when she notices the girl has two pale eyes, instead of one like Mina does.

 

_A pure blooded Pricolici._

 

“What kind of disrespect… It’s death what you’re looking for, entering my kingdom without permission?” The King apparently gets over his initial surprise and sits on his chair, confidence oozing from him as four more of his soldiers enter the hall and surround the two foreigners.

 

Momo hears how the general clicks her tongue, and Mina’s chuckle follows soon after.

 

“Easy, Hyejoo” Mina says, patting her general’s shoulder “He doesn’t mean it.”

 

All the soldiers are pointing their swords at Mina, but she just ignores them, slowly cutting the distance between her and the king; she walks past Momo without a single glance, and in the ultimate act of defiance, she hops and sits on the table, right in front of the king.

 

The princess witness how the expression of her father changes from disbelief to total panic as he examines the foreigner’s face.

 

There’s something she’s missing from the entire interaction.

 

“You-“

 

“Is that fear what I see on your eyes, King?” Mina mockingly gasps “Have you forgotten the shadows of the night and the debt you carry? We expected more from the king of such vast… Lands, didn’t you, Hyejoo?”

 

Momo feels a hand on her arm, and turns to find the general extending pieces of cold metals to her hands; she takes them and examines each one of the crowns with horror, she knows each one of the kings they belong to, she served to them and their nobility in the past.

 

“We did, _soră_ ” Hyejoo agrees, smiling at the guard that put a sword against her throat.

 

Every king that touched her, dead.

 

Momo couldn’t understand how was that possible.

 

“We are a lot of things, but not forgiving” Mina starts, taking a grape from the King’s plate and biting it. “And of course, not forgetful.”

 

“What do you want?”

 

“For the throne to be returned to its legitimate heir.” Mina says, glancing at the princess and giving her the first soft smile she had witnessed in the middle of the chaos; she takes another crown from her cloak and shows it to the King, that particular one Momo can’t recognize.

 

“You’re a demon, A WITCH!” The King screams. “I’m going to vanish every single one of you until nothing else but blood can be seen on the forests! Guards! I want the both of them dead!”

 

"The kingdoms crossing our way only found two things" Mina says, hopping off the table and taking confident steps in front of the King’s chair, eating the grape she just stole.

 

"War" Her companion adds, a fear-inducing grin taking over her face as she looks at the guard pressing the sword against her neck "And death"

 

"And both" Mina finishes, taking a bow "You shall receive."

 

It happens so fast that Momo almost misses it, the way in which the guards move their swords to attack almost perfectly synchronized; she waits for the general’s blood to be spilled but instead a gush of air hits her face and both Mina and the young girl move as fast as wolves about to catch their prey. A horrifying sight straight out of a nightmare soon becomes reality in the dining hall, and the princess can only stand still as she watches how half of the royal guard is brutally murdered by the Pricolici general, claws tearing apart their throats and disfiguring their faces in an animalistic festival of blood.

 

And in the middle of the chaos, Mina remains as the magnetic sight, sword moving swiftly and gracefully before the goddess sets her eyes on her and the Princess’ heart skips a couple beats. Momo’s vision gets blurry out of shock, and she feels how her legs start to give up on her.

 

But she finds heaven, and the forest smell on Mina’s clothes as she falls into the goddess’ arms.

 

“Do not falter, my Queen” Mina whispers to her muffling the roaring coming from the young general until it becomes only background noise, protecting Momo from the chaos as she covers her with her dark cloak “This needed to be done for my promise to be fulfilled.”

 

“Mina…”

 

“Do not doubt of my love, for its existence is my urge to claim what belongs to us.”

 

Her eyes start to close when Mina places her hand on her cheek, and the goddess orders her general to step back and spare the king.

 

The four people in the dining hall fall in silence, only one of them in horror.

 

“M’lady, my King!” The silence doesn’t last long and soon soldiers barge into the dining hall, Momo recognizes Jihyo’s voice too when Mina handles her to her maid, a totally different and unexpected expression on both her and her general when the Princess looks at them.

 

Both Mina and Hyejoo look scared.

 

“The King attacked us, without provocation or reason!” Mina accuses, an indignant tone on her voice that Momo never heard before “I’m the Queen of the Blue Forests, and the Heir to the northern lands, a guest to your kingdom; your king attacked not only me and my loyal general, but he tried to attack his own daughter too, what kind of barbarian ruler do you have?”

 

“THIS IS MADNESS” The king howls in a way that has both Jihyo and the soldiers, even the king’s consuelors shocked to the core. “I WANT THE TWO OF THEM DEAD, THEY’RE WITCHES, DEMONS”

 

“We were defending ourselves” Hyejoo assures, dropping both her sword and Mina’s to the floor. “Your majesty didn’t leave us with any other choice.”

 

“Jihyo-” Momo lets out, and her maid holds her close, and as far as she can from the two strangers.

 

“I’m afraid the Princess is the only trustworthy witness of this madness, she must be terrified.” Mina says, velvety voice lulling Momo into a reverie she cannot fight. “Don’t you have laws or justice on this castle?”

 

“Of course we do.” Jihyo states, baffled, giving a glance to one of the soldiers who nods towards their own general.

 

Said general sends a look to the King, who seems flabbergasted to be in such a situation, with her own soldiers questioning his decisions and a couple of foreigners bluntly lying even when they have their hands covered in the blood of his royal guard.

 

The king is between a sword and the wall, and he knows politics as much as he knows richness; he bites his own tongue in rage and pride, because it’s true, and there’s no other witness but his daughter, who fainted on her maid’s arms. He stares in anger into the Forest Queen’s eyes, but her fake expression of fear doesn’t change.

 

After seconds that seem eternal, he lets out a shaky breath and nods towards his general.

 

“Take them to the dungeons, you’ll have your damn trial tomorrow and I’ll get them skinned alive and hanged in public for all the kingdom to see what happens when you challenge your own King.” As soon as the words are said, the soldiers hold both the Forest Queen and her general, taking them away.

 

Jihyo doesn’t realize at first, the wellbeing of her dearest Princess being her sole priority, but the Forest Queen keeps looking at her until their eyes find each other in the middle of the ruckus. The maid has a lot of qualities that earned her the spot beside the princess, that’s why she stopped being a simple kitchen girl and now wears garments she could only dream of, having the privilege to share her life with the princess herself; one of those qualities, was her memory, to remember all the details and meetings both the princess and her court had to attend in their schedule.

 

Of course, with that memory, Jihyo never forgot a thing.

 

Not even a face.

 

She blinks away the shock after a couple seconds the stranger and her general are taken away, and she examines the scene around her, wheels turning on her head as she notices the crowns on the floor and the pale face of the king, who cannot stop looking in the direction the foreigners were taken.

 

“It was her…” Jihyo mumbles as she stays on her knees, looking down at Momo, who seems to be sleeping peacefully on her arms.

 

“It’s impossible” The king lets out “She’s dead”

 

“She looks _just like her mother_ …”

 

“No-”

 

“My King, it’s Princess Jeongnam.”


End file.
